Every man must be a philosopher. Everyone should have his own understanding of what is right and what is important in his life. Otherwise, existence becomes just a string of occurrences that have absolutely no real value.

To put it another way, it is of paramount importance for everyone to carry out the activity of thinking and to answer questions that define his whole life. One cannot live fully without knowing what one values and what one aspires to. The truth is that it is impossible to consciously buy juice without being clear about what the meaning of your life is.

In everyday life, every little decision actually corresponds to the person’s philosophy. Each choice, no matter how routine or insignificant it may seem at first glance, actually reveals the general life views of the person. For example, things like whether to party all night before an important exam or whether to eat a carton of ice cream on the coldest day of winter are ultimately choices between pleasure and security. Here are a few more examples:

Will I vote in the election? = Do I believe democracy is an adequate form of government?

Will I buy a Huawei phone? = Am I concerned about the security of my data and do I support the Chinese economic expansion?

Will I light up a cigarette even though I promised myself I would quit them from today? = Does my own word have value to me and do I want it to be taken seriously by others?

Am I going to throw my garbage on the street? = Do I respect myself and the world?

Nowadays, people make some decisions automatically because “others do so” and do not think at all whether they are right or wrong. The notion that because something is universally accepted, it is logically right, is one of the biggest threats to thinking as a phenomenon. To do things believing that someone smarter and more informed than you has managed to decide that they are right, without ever asking yourself why, is to shirk responsibility and abdicate your own individuality. Even the answer “I don’t care” is a good answer as long as it really comes from the depths of your own self.

There are too many things that are held as self-evident truths, and the simple question of “is it actually that way” can collapse them in a second. These misconceptions range from painfully familiar phrases like “You have to graduate from university to succeed in life” or “Marriage is an expression of love” to notions that have shaped entire eras like “Women are the property of their husbands” or “People need laws.” In every situation like this, the answer is: Do we? Is it? Really?

A true personal philosophy cannot be “wrong” as it will be based on the highest knowledge gained through reason and feeling. Global philosophical systems are wrong when they put boundaries around reality and say that nothing really exists outside of them.

Absolutism differs from other philosophies perhaps most of all in that it avoids laying down universal moral rules. Although there are values that are assumed to be nearly universal, it always allows for the possibility that there may be a superhuman who does not share them and yet is considered moral if he is guided in his life by his own principles. This is due to the idea of radical subjectivism, which holds that if a thing is true in one’s mind, it is absolute reality.

The conclusion is clear: Think! Challenge every thing you think you know. Ask questions about yourself and your own world. And then live precisely according to the conclusions you have drawn for yourself.